He also announced he would take to the campaign trail to help Vice President Kamala Harris.

President Joe Biden called himself a ā€œtransition presidentā€ in his first interview after dropping out of the race, saying he exited because of fears within his party that he could cost Democrats seats in Congress.

In a pre-recorded interview that aired on ā€œCBS Sunday Morningā€ with Robert Costa, Biden said he exited the race because he feared being a ā€œdistractionā€ for down-ballot candidates ā€” and specifically name-dropped Nancy Pelosi.

ā€œWhat happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic,ā€ Biden said, adding that he expected to face questions about Pelosiā€™s role. ā€œI thought itā€™d be a real distraction.ā€

The president said it was this ā€” combined with his belief that he was a ā€œtransition presidentā€ ā€” that ultimately helped him make his decision to end his reelection bid. It came after a disastrous debate performance triggered dozens of Democrats to call on Biden to pass the torch, especially as he dipped in the polls against former President Donald Trump.

ā€œWhen I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president. I canā€™t even say how old I am. Itā€™s hard for me to get it outta my mouth,ā€ Biden said. ā€œBut things got moving so quickly, it ā€” didnā€™t happen.ā€

He also announced a campaign tour in Pennsylvania with Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was on Vice President Kamala Harrisā€™ running mate shortlist.

    • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      The civilian death toll in Gaza is about on par with how many the US killed in Afghanistan under Obama. However, Biden isnā€™t personally signing off on every drone strike, so as gross as it feels to try and make an objective comparison between these civilian crisises, I gotta go with Obama for the bigger bastard award.

        • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          And you believe history will look back fondly on invading Afghanistan for no real reason and drone striking everything that moved for 20 years?

          • abracaDavid@lemmy.today
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            3 months ago

            Lol no. If anyone survives all of this, history isnā€™t going to be kind to us about pretty much anything weā€™ve done since WW2.

        • Apollo42@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Then I would suggest reading some American history, the nation was build upon a foundation of native corpses.

      • LotrOrc@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        46000 Afghani civilians died in total. Israel has done four times as much as that in 10 months, all funded and signed off by Biden.

        Did you read the Lancet study?